Sugar-free stewed apples

My new favourite thing to do with apples from my mum’s garden (of which there were a LOT this year) is to make stewed apples. It takes very little time to peel and chop up some apples, then you just bung them in a saucepan with some lemon, water and sugar, and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the apple is soft and delicious for putting on top of porridge.

BUT.

This is also one of Theo’s favourite things, and I don’t really like the idea of giving him something that has a load of added sugar in it. So, I thought I’d give a “sugar-free” version a go without any granulated sugar, and see how it came out. And, the good news is – it was lovely!

I say “sugar-free” in quotation marks because I did use a little bit of maple syrup to add sweetness. Maple syrup is still made up of sucrose, but the body burns it much slower than regular white or brown sugar, plus it contains minerals and antioxidants – no bad thing.

Cooking this recipe up made the house smell like Christmas – it has a touch of the mulled cider smell to it – no bad thing in my book! I used about 8 apples, which lasted for ages in the fridge, with one or both of us having it every morning with some porridge oats and yoghurt. If you’re feeling fancy, you could grate some nutmeg on the top, too!

Ingredients:

8-10 small cooking apples, chopped up into bite-sized pieces

1 cinnamon stick

4-5 cloves

1/2 lemon (juice and rind)

1-2 star anise seeds

1 tablespoon maple syrup

To make the apples, throw all of the ingredients together in a pot, along with a couple of tablespoons of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer with the lid on for 10-15 minutes, until the apples are just soft all the way through. Cook for too long and the apples will form a mush, which is still delicious, but doesn’t add much of a bite to your mushy porridge, so keep an eye on it.

The image above is what Theo had for breakfast last week. He ate that whole bowl of food! That’s the same portion size as I would have! Is it right for a tiny baby to have such a voracious appetite!?